1Then Solomon determined to build an house for the Name of the Lord, and an house for his kingdom.
2And Solomon told out seventy thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand men to hew stones in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.
3And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, As thou hast done to David my father, and didst send him cedar trees to build him an house to dwell in so do to me.
4Behold, I build an house unto the Name of the Lord my God, to sanctify it unto him, and to burn sweet incense before him, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings of the morning and evening, on the Sabbath days, and in the new months, and in the solemn feasts of the Lord our God: this is a perpetual thing for Israel.
5And the house which I build, is great: for great is our God above all gods.
6Who is he then that can be able to build him an house, when the heaven and the heaven of heavens can not contain him? who am I then that I should build him an house? but I do it to burn incense before him.
7Send me now therefore a cunning man that can work in gold, in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and in crimson and blue silk, and that can grave in graven work with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father hath prepared.
8Send me also cedar trees, fir trees and Algummim trees from Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to hew timber in Lebanon: and behold, my servants shall be with thine,
9That they may prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I do build, is great and wonderful.
10And behold, I will give to thy servants the cutters and the hewers of timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.
11Then Huram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon, Because the Lord hath loved his people, he hath made thee King over them.
12Huram said moreover, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which made the heaven and the earth, and that hath given unto David the King a wise son, that hath discretion, prudence and understanding to build an house for the Lord, and a palace for his kingdom.
13Now therefore I have sent a wise man, and of understanding of my father Huram’s,
14The son of a woman, of the daughters of Dan: and his father was a man of Tyre, and he can skill to work in gold, in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue silk, and in fine linen, and in crimson, and can grave in all graven works, and broider in all broidered work that shall be given him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.
15Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants.
16And we will cut wood in Lebanon as much as thou shalt need, and will bring it to thee in rafts by the sea to Japho, so thou mayest carry them to Jerusalem.
17And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering that his father David had numbered them: and they were found an hundred and three and fifty thousand, and six hundred.
18And he set seventy thousand of them to the burden, and fourscore thousand to hew stones in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to cause the people to work.